My guest this week is an old friend (we met back in 2001!) who started as a driver for a wine agency, and then went on to become a sommelier. James Oatway works for Halpern Wine Enterprises in Toronto. He posts on Instagram under his new account, @rockandgrapes, as well as @Somm_Thing_To_Talk_About, which is the title of his upcoming podcast about wine - and he tells me a story about the origins of the logo for the podcast involving a broken bottle of wine. He's a busy guy, as he also has a music industry podcast called Tales from the Turntable.

In this episode, James shares a ton of insider information on the wine industry, how wines are priced for sale (a lot of our talk is very Ontario-specific, since that's where we both live and work,) how to choose a wine in a restaurant, the most expensive wine he's ever tasted, how (and why!) to start a wine tasting club, and so much more. He also gave me a suggestion of a wine we could taste together (details below) and he walks me though how to taste that wine and what to look for.

Majella The Musician, Cabernet/Shiraz, 2019, Coonawara, South Australia, $19.95 at LCBO/Vintages. 14.5% alcohol.